BRANCHE Senopati Jakarta

Another new establishment in the Senopati area, say hi to Branche Bistro! Senopati is really going crayzeeh, less than a week ago I blogged about this new restaurant called Sake+ and yet another new joint is opening.

This French themed restaurant is located not far and align from Emilie - which for me personally one of the best French restaurants in town to date - The exterior looked interesting with dark colored irons creating this form and pattern of simplicity, sophisticated and posh, but when you step inside, the atmosphere was actually way homier and in a sense, unexpected.

The seating next to the windows are always the best <3. They're not a fine-dining restaurant so you don't need to feel intimidated, their concept is Bistro so you could just grab a meal, had a little chat and leave :).

Bar area.

They are still on the pre-opening days so only the first floor (out of three) that's operating, let's say they could accomodate around 30-40 people right now, but soon will be able to accomodate up to 200. I was taking photos of the first floor when suddenly whom I assume the manager approached me and asked me if I wanted to check out the rest of the building, and didn't I introduce myself as a blogger (just so you know).

I love how they're using the irons creatively as stairs, rest assure this is completely safe and not shaky.

Yes, the second floor was still on the construction and instalation process, almost done actually just needed a little finishing touch.

I love the outdoor seating... only when Jakarta's weather's not a bitch. Could be stinging hot during the day.

The third floor will be the area for private events, judging from the stage and the area, this could be perfect for birthday parties or any private events for let's say 20-30 people. They also have few VIP rooms on their second floor.

Since I'm guessing you're hungry already, let's proceed to the F&B! Their menu is currently very limited: 5 appetizers, 5 main courses, few drinks and 2 desserts (if I'm not mistaken). I had a lunch just before visiting this and since some of the menu that I wanted to order wasn't available, I stick with several options.

Ale Tropical
IDR 52k
I love this drink and this was very refreshing, fruity, fragrant and sweet! They told me they're using Ginger Ale here but I didn't really hint that on this particular beverage, however it kinda reminded me of this long childhood ice that we used to eat straight from the plastic (don't know what to call it but it's not es mambo but you have to cut the top part of the plastic)...err whatever. I think this one's pretty good.

Carlito Punch
IDR 52k
This one was the Branche Bistro's version of good old fruit punch: fruit juice and fruit puree topped with vanilla ice cream. This had sweet and sour in it but overall tasted pretty natural. The Vanilla ice cream really gave that cherry on top touch as it added the creaminess to the overall consistency which I found good. Another decent drink for you to try.

Crispy Dory Finger
IDR 62k
I have always loved fish and chips and I had this as an appetizer but minus the chips! One bite of this and I knew I just restored my love for Jakarta's deep fried dory! It's hard to find a decent fish and chips here, either they're bad or they're worse and eventually keep on coming back to Fish&Co, this is probably why they're very successful, but this particular one from Branche, wooo so damn good. It was perfectly crispy on the outside and smooth, juicy, silky meat. This came with Tartar dipping sauce. Total must try!

Now this is effin deep fried Dory!

Stuffed Chicken Breast
IDR 85k
When this got served to the table, this looked promising, and boy it was! The chicken was juicy and tender (but it'd better if they could make it more tender), the skin was semi-crispy but still on a good state that I personally like. The stuffing was (mostly) spinach and paprika, pretty good but I would love it even more if the stuffing was more generous, however, the mashed potato was smooth, a little lighter than most I've had but pretty tasty.

I must say I had a good visit to Branche along with good lunch: good food and good drinks, but I couldn't say that they're crazy good because I hardly try a lot of dishes, but from what I experienced, this restaurant's quite promising. If you've been here, you can share your experience on the comment box and tell me what you think about this restaurant.

Their operational hours currently starts from 4 PM - 12 AM (daily), cheers to another new joint in Senopati! GOOD LUCK!

UPDATE:
Paid the second visit to this restaurant and I must say I must quite disappointed with the performance. I re-ordered the Crispy Fried Dory and it felt like two completely different meal! The skin wasn't as crispy (wasn't even close to crispy) as before. I also ordered their burger but I felt that it was lack of the kick factor , the meat was a bit dry and overall was just okay. However, I honestly thought their Crispy Barramundi was quite nice with crispy skin and silky fish meat, and I loved how they manage to execute mashed sweet potato and pineapple puree as the dressing. Going to post the pics later because my laptop just recovered from a terrible error I had to retrieve the old photos FML.

Branche Bistro
Jl. Senopati No. 33 (align with Emilie)
Opening Hours: (currently) 4 PM - 12 AM
For reservation: Gina - 0812 1064 4017
Price Range: IDR 80 - IDR 300k
Dresscode: Casual
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